THE Johor Health Department has issued 2,132 compounds totalling RM1.017 million in anti-Aedes breeding operations carried out in the first four months this year.

State Health and Unity committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said the operations were carried out to ensure that all breeding sites were eliminated.

“The discovery of mosquito breeding sites in houses shows that the public is not really aware of the need to clean water containers and destroy places at risk of breeding Aedes mosquitoes.

“People need to clean their own houses by doing search and destroy activities for 10 minutes at home and workplace. This is to ensure that there is no place or container with stagnant water that can become a breeding ground for Aedes mosquitoes,” he said in a statement today.

He said the public also needs to play a role in preventing the breeding of Aedes mosquitoes, including using insecticides, removing or covering water containers and organising a gotong-royong periodically.

Ling said 152 cases of dengue fever were recorded in Johor in the 16th epidemiology week this year, compared with 156 in the previous week.

“Of the total cases reported in the 16th week, 55 were from the epidemic localities and 97 from non-epidemic localities.

“Johor Baru records the highest number of cases at 111, followed by Kulai (13), Kluang (6), five each in Muar, Kota Tinggi and Batu Pahat, two each in Segamat, Pontian and Tangkak, and one case in Mersing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ling said 353 cases of the XBB sub-variant of Covid were reported in nine districts in the state as of April 22.

Johor Baru recorded the highest number of the XBB sub-variant cases at 200, followed by Muar (33), Kulai (28), Batu Pahat (23), Kluang (22), Kota Tinggi (20), Tangkak (14), Pontian (11) and Segamat (2). – Bernama, April 25, 2023.